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After a long time and some "persuasion" you finally released your solo album “Everything Under The Sun”. Have you been satisfied with the reception of it?

Yes, I am, it's had some really outstanding reviews. I've gigged and promoted myself as a solo artist a lot more internationally so I guess I needed to do this album after years of flogging cassettes to my family in Perth.

Many of the lyrics seem very personal and kind of melancholic, often about lost love or longing for love. Do you write about your own experiences or are they fictitious?

A bit of both I guess, at face value the lyrics are sometimes very personal. All songs conceal an experience whether it be my own or someone else's. Most song writers will tell you that. I'm trying to be less naive as I get older.

My personal life is very settled now, so I'm writing about more external themes. However, I do understand that this is the same point where 30-something songwriters can start becoming banal.

While talking about your lyrics. Could you please inform us what the song Lee Hazelwood is about?

Lee Hazlewood is written from a female's point of view (like a few of my songs). I imagine Lee as a tough, mean Texan sort of guy, I think I wrote it pretending I was Nancy (Sinatra). Apparently they were never personally involved but who knows, maybe Lee did smack her around a bit.

I still love the story that old Frank almost hired the mafia to get Lee knocked off after innocent little Nancy told daddy that she tried acid with him for the first time.

After you decided to move to Sweden you got together with your band Jack And The Beanstalk in Perth and started recorded enough songs for a new album. Tell us about the recordings.

Well, when I decided to move to Stockholm and I didn't want to twiddle my thumbs with nothing to do and see the band put on hold for however long I was away.

We decided to record the basic tracks for a new album that I would finish on my own in Stockholm. We recorded it really quickly, there's more than just a few warts in there.

So you bought the tapes with you and have worked with them here in Sweden?

Yep, since most of the basic tracks were done in Perth I finished up the vocals, a few bits n' pieces and then mixed it here.

From what I heard the band seem to lean against a rougher more "rockier" sound. Has this been a natural development in your songwriting? Does Kevin inclusion in the band affect?

I think it has more to do with the character of the band now, especially with Kev on guitar. When the band started off as a 3 piece it almost didn't matter who was in the rhythm section, most of the sound was from me. I'm a totally shit-ouse guitarist but I could always piece something together in the studio.

Now there is a raw edge which is evident on most of our more recent recordings, it's the "band" sound and it's even better live.

I'm listening to more than just 60s pop these days too. I love a live, rock n' roll band which sounds as though it could fall apart any second. I've become more excited by stuff by the Ramones, Johnny Thunders, the Replacements; I wasn't a teenage punk but now I'm trying to be.

Speaking of which, you've been on compilations doing songs by the Replacements, Real Kids and Lime Spiders...

Yeah, I don't know how much more we'll do. Some bands do them just for the sake of the being on there. I try and be honest with these things, unless we're into the band and we'll pass on it. My favourite has been Slave Girl. Kev's off the wall guitar and Stuart's organ really made the song fire.

Do you have a title for the album? When do you plan to release it?

It's tentatively titled "Mad Cowboy Disease" and looks set to be released by Parasol in 2001. The title is a bit of a country spoof, we've used pedal steel on a couple of tracks but it sounds more punk than alt. country.

You got married this summer and now live in Stockholm and the rest of the band lives in Australia. It could be some problem there with concerts and promotion. You're not exactly neighbours anymore...

The reality is that we've rarely played, if it all, to most of our fans. When you're an indie band set up the way we are, you sell a handful of records all around the world. Recordings, especially albums, have a life of their own and really put you in the public eye because of reviews, interviews, etc. And that's exactly what I had in mind when we started the new album before I left Australia.

I know with our first album we were still milking tracks from it almost 5 years after we finished recording it; 10,000 Sunny Days recently came out on a compilation in San Francisco and another track just got used on a documentary for the Discovery Channel.

Well, that's the point I'm trying to make anyway. Whilst I'm living in Europe I'd like to get the guys over here for another European tour, maybe after the album is released. Otherwise, I can continue to promote it on my own for the time being.

There have been some solo tours to Finland. How was Finland? Vodka and sauna?

I love Finland at the moment, really nice and appreciative people. I've been there twice this year thanks mainly to the efforts of Mikko from Ben's Diapers. I play solo and also some Jack songs with the Diapers.

The audience seem to dig it, they buy our CDs and I generally get pretty shit-faced. Finnair is my fave airline too, they serve so much free alcohol. Kippis!

I'm a little adverse to having a "European version" of Jack And The Beanstalk as a live band but working with Ben's Diapers is great and we spoken of doing more gigs together.

So what's happening at the moment? Plans for the immediate future?

Get the new Jack album out and then start working on another solo album, reunite with the band at some point and to continue drinking at someone else's expense.

Top ten albums of all time!!

Oh God, this is hard, there is a lot of good songs that I like that aren't necessarily from good albums. This is no particular order:

After doing their favourite album list both Joe and Jan Hedin from Happydeadmen complained and said they much more prefered to do a song list - so here are Joe's ten favourite songs the day he made the list: